Helianthus
by moon strut
Summary: Don't ever change. Not for anyone. —sasuke&sakura


**thoughts: **Hey, guys. I'm back with yet another oneshot. This one's gonna be less crack/humor and more fluff, though. So yaaay fluffy oneshots.

**inspiration:** 'All About Steve.' While it wasn't the best movie, I certainly thought it had a beautiful meaning behind it.

**dedication: **To all those people who are different, "Don't ever change. Not for anyone."

**disclaimer: **Neither Naruto nor All About Steve are mine, so please, STFU.

**warning: **Contains enough fluff to make a billion Q-tips and several teddy bears.

Also, would y'all be so kind as to vote on my poll? It's to determine my next multi-chapter fic. Thank you!

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><p><strong> Helianthus<br>**; redlightmix

"My, what a cute dog!"

Sasuke frowned. He hated walking his brother's dog. It always drew attention to him, and soon, he'd be delayed by all the annoying people who, apparently, _must_ stop him to further marvel at the common house pet.

Of course he'd rather not walk any dog at all, but it would have at least been more fitting for him to walk a German shepherd or a Siberian husky. But what did Itachi just _have_ to own? A pekingese. And a _female_, at that.

Furthermore, she strongly disliked Sasuke. Every time he got close to put on her leash, she would growl and bark at him. She would also go around _everywhere_ when taking care of her 'business.'

As she was sniffing around for a good spot to go, he stood there bored out of his mind. She took this opportunity to slip the leash from his loose grip and run off into the park.

"What the hell?" He didn't move for a moment, but started sprinting as he saw the blob of white disappear into a bush. "Damn dog," he muttered to himself, running around the bush to the same spot the ball of white had went.

"Shit." He ran his hand through his messy dark hair and sighed. Although he personally didn't care for what happened to her, he knew Itachi cared for her a lot, and that she had cost quite a bit.

"Excuse me, did you lose something, sir?"

He sighed again. He didn't want to have to deal with more annoying people senselessly talking to him, especially since it was a girl's voice. So he ignored her.

"Did it happen to be a white female pekingese with a blue collar and a leash?"

This time, he turned around fully. The first things his eyes focused on was the pink on top of her head. _Pink. _She had pink _hair._ The second thing he noticed was her bright red boots. It was nearing the end of spring, and she was wearing knee-high boots. But sitting nonchalantly in her lap as she squatted on the floor was Itachi's dog. The very same dog that he wanted to just pick up and throw across the grassy area like a football.

_Great. _A crazy girl with pink hair and red boots had found his dog. Now he actually had to interact with her.

"Yeah. Thanks." He walked over and squatted in front of the strange girl to reclaim Itachi's dog, but she only growled at him menacingly. He withdrew his extended hands and glared at her.

"I don't think she likes you very much." The girl grinned at the pekingese and laughed lightly, brushing the hair out of her face when the wind blew.

"I know."

"You know, I heard dogs can tell when people don't like them." He stared into the girl's bright green eyes, not showing any interest in what she was telling him.

"Fascinating." He reached out to take back the dog again, but she kept talking.

"My dog would never growl at me or anything. Isn't that right, Helianthus?" Only then did Sasuke realize she was holding a leash of her own, and attached to that leash was a large pug. She reached one hand over to scratch his head, his tail wagging in affection.

"Wonderful. Now can I**—"**

"Did you know that Helianthus is the scientific name for sunflowers? I just _love_ sunflowers. They're my favorite type of flowers." She never stopped grinning at him, looking away only to admire the bed of sunflowers a couple feet away.

"That's—"

"_And_ we use sunflowers for so many things. Like, oil, food, etc. They're also rich in calcium."

"Fantastic. Now I'll just take this," he grabbed his dog and stood up. "Thanks again."

She remained squatting on the floor and blinked several times. "No problem!" She smiled and also stood up, brushing off her skirt. "Oh, wait!"

Sasuke didn't move.

"Can you tell me what her name is?"

He looked down at the panting dog in his arms, his expression never changing.

"...Captain Pickles."

He stared at her straight in the eye, his stoic composure never wavering. She grinned and laughed out loud.

"I like it." Sasuke gave her a skeptical look. "Anyway, I'll see you again sometime, Captain Pickles!" She waved at the dog in his arms, turned to pick up her watering can, and proceeded to water the sunflowers.

He turned and walked in the opposite direction. Only then did he realized they didn't even know each other's names.

,

That girl that he 'met' at the park the other day never left his mind. Her impressive knowledge, abnormally colored hair, and bright red boots were completely etched into his photographic memory.

Soon, he found himself thinking about what other things she would ramble on about if he allowed it. Though he found her incredibly annoying, he also felt like she was _interesting_, for lack of a better adjective.

She certainly was different. In a good or bad way, he wasn't sure.

Itachi found it strange that his little brother had been less against taking Captain Pickles out on walks, and even more strange that he sometimes caught him researching the genetics regarding abnormal hair colors.

,

Sasuke always walked Captain Pickles at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He had changed his route to go passed the area with the bed of sunflowers, although he didn't quite realize it.

Every time he walked by, he would see from a distance, a pink-haired girl, her same red boots, and her pug, as she watered the her favorite flowers with an unwavering smile.

Spring was almost over, but there were times when the weather was unpredictable, and it suddenly rained very hard.

Sasuke had protested against taking Captain Pickles out for a walk while the rain was pouring, but Itachi demanded that she get her daily walks. Sasuke had given in with a grunt, and proceeded to walk the same route as always.

He kept the retractable leash short, so that she couldn't stray from under his only umbrella. He highly doubted sunflower girl would be there like she was everyday. If she was smart, she wouldn't be there.

But as the bed of flowers came into view, he was surprised to see the familiar pink hair, red boots, and pug.

His eyes widened, and he stopped walking. Captain Pickles looked up at him curiously.

The girl was completely soaked, from head to toe, in the rain. It wasn't as if she didn't have an umbrella. In fact, she had several. One was shielding her pug from the rain, and the others covered the flowers. She continued to adjust the umbrellas to fit snugly, a smile still on her bright face.

Sasuke blinked, picked up his dog, and hurried over to the (most likely insane) girl standing in the rain with not much more than a rain coat on.

"What the hell are you doing?" He looked hard at her, who only smiled back at him.

"Oh, hello again. And hello to you, too, Captain Pickles!" She pet the dog in a friendly matter.

"Don't ignore my question." She looked up into his demanding eyes.

"I'm just covering the sunflowers from the rain. You know, too much water can—"

"Who cares about the damn flowers? Worry about yourself first!"

She blinked and looked down at her own attire then back up, smiling at him, despite his obviously annoyed expression.

"I'll be fine. But the flowers—"

"Can you just shut up about the flowers already? They're just plants. They're meaningless."

Her smile slowly faded.

"But they're important to me."

"More important than your own health?"

"In a way, _yes_, but—"

"That's really stupid, you know that?"

She frowned at him. "I—"

"Why can't you just be like everyone else? Normal people don't come out when it's raining just to cover up some stupid flowers."

She didn't respond to him. Instead, she was shaking, from either the cold or anger, he didn't know. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"I... What's wrong with being the way I am? Okay, so what if I'm not like other people. 'Why do you wear those stupid red boots all the time, Sakura?' 'Why's your hair pink, Sakura?' 'Hey, Sakura, why can't you be normal?' I wear these boots because I like them, okay? My hair is pink because I was born with it! Why do I have to be normal? Why can't I be me? Why is it such a bad thing to be different?" When she stopped yelling, she was panting, still frowning.

Sasuke was a bit taken aback at her sudden burst. "Your name is Sakura?"

She glared at him, although not very threateningly. "I'm going home. Come on, Helianthus." She grabbed her pug and the umbrella that was covering him, shot one more glance at Sasuke, and proceeded to walk away, leaving him standing alone in the rain.

He turned towards the bed of sunflowers, rain bouncing and sliding off the multiple umbrellas.

,

The next day, Sasuke continued to walk along the familiar route, despite the fact that Itachi took Captain Pickles to get groomed. He was finally free of the annoying dog for a day, but he still ended up walking through the park. He wondered why.

When he got the bed of sunflowers, much to his surprise (yet again), the girl — her name was Sakura, right? — wasn't there.

He stopped, looked around, and jogged over to the flowers. The soil and leaves looked pretty dry, despite the harsh rain the day before. If they were dry, did that mean she didn't come to water them that day?

He sighed, feeling very conflicted with himself, but nevertheless picked up a random discarded cup he found on the ground and filled it up at the water fountain. He didn't know why, but he felt obligated to keep the sunflowers properly watered. He mentally groaned. What had become of him?

"What are you doing?"

Sasuke froze and turned slowly, coming face to face with a pair of bright red boots. He looked up into Sakura's confused green eyes and blinked slowly.

"Watering these stupid flowers."

She squatted down next to him, never taking her eyes off of him. "Why? I thought you said they're meaningless."

"Because I didn't want a weird girl to start crying when she found out her important flowers dried up."

She looked away in embarrassment, muttering, "What do mean 'start crying'..."

They squatted in silence, even when the cup ran out of water, and he set it down onto the ground.

"Hey..." She whispered.

"Hm."

"What's your name?"

He didn't answer.

"Well, you know my name now. So it's only fair if you tell me yours, right?"

"I didn't ask for yours, though."

She rolled her eyes. "But I'm asking for yours, so please?"

She stared at him, anticipation gleaming in her eyes.

"...Sasuke. It's Sasuke."

"Hm... Sasuke..." She looked up at the sky and smiled. "It's a nice name."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why were you late today?"

"Hm?" She turned back to him and blinked. "Oh, I got a little sick..."

He smirked. "I told you."

She flushed in embarrassment and pushed him playfully. "Shut up!"

They sat in silence again, staring at the empty, blue sky.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Hm."

"Did you know sunflowers turn towards the sun in order to receive more light? So they start off the day facing the east and end facing the west."

"Mm."

"I want to be your sunflower."

He blinked in surprise and looked at her. She was grinning brightly at the flower bed.

"In my eyes, you're always bright, like the sun. So I want to be like your sunflower and only look at you."

He looked down and smiled ever so subtly.

"See, I knew you weren't normal from the moment I first saw you."

"Hey!" She punched him in the arm playfully.

But because of her being 'different,' he was always interested in her, always worrying about her subconsciously.

Before he had even realized it, _he _had become _her_ sunflower. From the beginning, he was only looking at her.

"Sakura."

"Hm?"

"Don't ever change."

,

,

,

おしまい

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><p>AN: Okay, let's all just agree that it was fluffy and corny as hell, LOL. And rushed. But I originally wanted it to be a short drabble anyway.

I'm typing this at 1AM, because I can. So shut up.

I just love sunflowers. Don't you?


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